We’ve been having a blast playing Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown, an expansion that we’d been waiting with bated breath for. We’ve spent the better part of the day with it, and it’s been a fun and intriguing time thanks to all the new stuff that’s on board, alongside the potential of even more interesting discoveries to come.
Things can get a little dicey, though, especially if you’ve decided to come to Pywel for the first time after the expansion caught your eye. But whether you’re a seasoned pro at navigating the world with your wyverns or dragon, or a bright-eyed newbie wondering where you should go next and how to get there, this one’s here to help you get the party started. Let’s go.
1. Look For Air Pockets Underwater
If you’ve spent any amount of time with Edward Kenway, another popular seafaring protagonist, this one’s going to sound quite familiar to you. There are numerous ruins and caves that are below the surface that require you to take a lengthy swim to access them and uncover any secrets they’re hiding.
There’s just one catch: your character isn’t getting any fancy breathing equipment from the Abyss and must rely on their lungs for the most part. Fortunately, there are air pockets for you to find that can let you get a fresh breath of air before you dive back into the water to find whatever it is you were looking for.
2. Taming Underwater Creatures
Anyone who’s tried to tame Rokade with an early-game stamina bar knows that the taming minigame is no joke unless you use the camera perspective trick that’s now been well-documented. We like to earn our wins the hard way, though, and the new underwater creatures you encounter need a little bit of thinking before you can get them to work with you.
Some of them might need to be fed before you earn their trust, while others must be tamed. Picking the right way to approach an unfamiliar creature is half the battle won already, and knowing whether you need the carrot or the stick goes a long way in getting you a mount to cut through the waters with.
3. The A.T.A.G. Can Help Explore Underwater
In case you haven’t found out already, the A.T.A.G. mech, or the Iron Knight as we call it, isn’t just a fancy way to tear through enemy ranks anymore. You can fit it with underwater equipment to let you take it below the surface without the need for you to hold your breath.
Visit any of the research workshops to get started with this, ensuring you have the right materials and enough cash to pay for the upgrades in question. Once that’s done, all that’s left to do is to enjoy your future dives with the safety of the mech allowing you to stay under the water far longer than you could otherwise manage.
4. Get Your Crew’s Orders Sorted Before Setting Sail
If you’re the kind of captain who takes discipline on the deck of your vessel seriously, it’s probably a good idea to ensure that you set your crew’s roles on board before you leave port. You don’t get to switch things up while at sea, which is understandable given the confusion that could cause if you were on a real ship.
Everyone knows what they have to do, and it’s up to you to ensure that they get it right the first time.
5. Be Intelligent About The Starting Points of Island Dispatches
If you find yourself trying to get your ship dispatched to an unexplored island in your efforts to pioneer new frontiers, but are unable to get the mission started, you should check whether you’re in range of the location’s facility circle. That’s usually why some dispatches refuse to start, and getting that sorted should solve the issue.
You should also pay attention to assigning the appropriate number of deckhands for the voyage, which is another condition that might trip you up if you don’t notice the game telling you what you need to do.
6. Keep A Shovel In Your Inventory
If you’re looking for treasure in a certain location that the map points you to but there’s no chest in sight, the chances are it’s underground and needs to be excavated before you can see what goodies it has in store for you.
Keeping a shovel in your inventory is thus a good idea, ensuring you’re ever at the ready to grab some new loot, and possibly change the way you’re approaching combat and exploration if you’re lucky enough to nab a new Abyss Gear, weapon, or armor piece. That’s not even factoring in the useful resources you’re likely to nab in the process. If trading a single inventory slot is the price of that, it’s one we’d gladly pay.
7. Talk To Your Fleetmasters Before Splurging On A Ship
You’ve probably already found out that ships are quite expensive in the expansion’s early hours. Losing one could mean a fortune sinking to the depths right in front of your eyes, which is sure to hit if (and probably when) it happens. However, you should go right up to a Fleetmaster before mourning your lost vessel.
You see, Fleetmasters can recover lost vessels and perhaps even repair destroyed ones as long as you have enough gold to compensate them for their services. We don’t know if Pywel has its own version of Davy Jones’s locker, but it’s nice to know that a bit of cash can help recover something as precious as a ship.
8. Don’t Fly Over Whirlpools (Unless You Want To)!
It’s quite tempting to try this out when you’re on a wyvern or Blackstar, but flying above a whirlpool is going to pull you in and make you lose control of your mount and get sucked into the depths. While this could be annoying if you already have somewhere else to be, there’s a case to be made for doing this deliberately when you’re ready.
Some whirlpools pull you down deep, letting you access hidden areas where you might even find a boss waiting for you. Unique rewards and one of the DLC’s secret achievements are hidden behind this mechanic, and we’d recommend taking these on once you have a refined diving suit in your possession.
9. Plan Routes With Trading Stops
It would be a shame to let all the space you’ve got in your hull be wasted, now, wouldn’t it? Just like wagons, ships can also be loaded up with trade goods and be sailed to posts set up all around the new, expanded map. What’s more, trade routes are permanently visible, and it’s a good idea to plan your route in such a way as to ensure you’re docking at a trading post to get in some nice trades along the way.
Sailing your ship isn’t just about having fun on the waters and perhaps picking a few fights along the way, after all. We must admit that we slept on this one for a while, but we know better now. You could say we rowed so you could sail.
10. Take Care Of Business Before Long Voyages
Managed facilities can continue their operations in your absence, and it’s a good idea to get them working on whatever they produce before you head out to explore the seas. You’ll have their respective outputs waiting for you once you get back, and have them ready to begin production again before you head out.
This one’s important because efficiency seems to be quite important to your progression loop in Charting the Unknown, and being prudent about how you utilize the in-game clock is going to help you sustain your growth over the course of the story, as far as we can tell.
11. Don’t Dispose of Exploration Relics
You’re going to find a few relics during your travels, and they might not seem like they’re useful, but hold on to them. You eventually meet a Relic Collector with whom you can trade them in exchange for useful items.
Some of the stuff they’ve got in their pockets is quite nifty, and it’s a good idea to ensure that the relics you find are being put to good use instead of just getting rid of them to maintain a clear inventory screen.
12. Board Enemy Ships When You Can
We suspect most of you would have done this anyway, but it does bear mentioning that choosing to take on the crew of a hostile ship directly is almost always a better, less expensive choice than an all-out fight. You’re going to save a lot of cash on repairs and perhaps even restoration in case you lose the fight.
Plus, it’s always fun to engage with the game’s combat system, and wiping out the entire crew of an enemy ship is certainly an entertaining way to showcase your moves.
13. Pick Your Next Destination Wisely
The DLC has brought an improved map that now highlights areas based on whether they’re occupied by hostile forces or not. Red areas are blockaded; light red ones are under reconstruction, yellow ones have incidents for you to check out, and gray ones are uncharted.
It’s a good idea to know what you’re getting into before you’re there so you can prepare accordingly and gather up enough supplies to ensure you meet your goals in the region no matter what they are.
14. Your Business’s Layout Matters
If you find that one or more of your businesses isn’t performing as well as you expect it to, it’s probably because of an operational bottleneck that your staff is unable to get around. Your workers need access to the front of workstations to be at their productive best. In the absence of that, they’re going to take a well-deserved break if their access is blocked.
Get in there and rotate the workstation in question in case it’s indeed obstructing the workflow, to get your business back to being as profitable as it can be.
15. Save Some Comrades For Your Ship’s Crew
You should look to fill out vacancies aboard your ships before assigning your comrades to businesses, since it’s a shared pool that could leave you wanting for manpower aboard your vessel if you’re not careful.
It’s a good idea to ensure you’re well-manned before you decide to put your comrades to work on land.
And that’s about it with this one. You should get off to a lovely start with these tips in mind, and we can tell you that there’s a whole wide world out there to discover aboard your vessel and, of course, under it when the urge to go diving takes you. May our paths cross in Pywel, and may the winds ever favor your sails. Happy exploring!
